Crash
by pikapikatchu
Summary: Greg gets involved in a car accident, but there's more to it than the CSIs thnink. - As almost always, some references to my old stories (the Novak story - starting at "Backstabber"), so you might read those first but will be able to follow the story without it, too!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! It's been a while since I uploaded a new story, but here it is now! I hope it'll be worth the wait! :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was a cold Saturday night as Nick knocked on Greg's door. Since Greg's car was in the shop, Nick volunteered to drive him to the shop to pick it up. And knowing that Greg always took his time opening the door, he started reading his mail on his phone. He didn't get far this time because the door opened quickly. "Wow, that was qui... Hi," Nick said a little puzzled.

A woman had opened the door. "Can I help you?"

"...Yeah, uh... Greg, I... We were supposed to drive..." Nick was looking for words over this surprising situation when Greg rushed over to them.

"...I told you, you don't have to open the door..." Greg said sheepishly as he lead her away from the door. "...Let's go!" he said to Nick, trying to get out of the apartment, but his friend pushed him back inside.

"Not so fast. Why didn't you tell me?" Nick whispered with a grin on his face.

"About Rosa? It's no big deal, I just..."

"No, it is! I'm glad you found someone! I mean sure, she's a little older, but..."

"What?"

"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of, although I have to admit, it's kinda weird picturing you two toget..."

Greg quickly interrupted him. "Stop picturing anything! Gosh, Nick, you..."

"How old is she? 55?"

"...57, but it's not what you think."

"Oh come on, we're all grown-ups and we've all had some unusual hook-ups, so..."

"Nick. She's my housekeeper."

The stupid grin on Nick's face vanished. "Y-your... What? What do you need a housekeeper for?"

"To keep the place clean. You know I hate cleaning and stuff, especially after a double shift I don't have the nerve to do it. So I figured hiring a housekeeper would take care of that."

Nick watched Rosa walk around the apartment, picking Greg's stuff up. "Well I suppose it's not the worst idea you ever had, but..."

"I figured I gave it a shot. And she's doing a great job. Look at that!" He ran his finger over the upper edge of the door. "No dust!"

"You never cleaned there before, huh?"

"Of course not," Greg replied excited.

Nick shook his head as he chuckled. "Well then, I'm glad you found her, I guess."

* * *

Later that night, Greg and Nick arrived at a crime scene. Two men got shot in front of a hotel a few blocks off the strip. They worked the scene for two hours, picking up evidence and talking to witnesses. One of the men had an I.D. with him but it was obviously a fake one. After interviewing a few of the people standing around, Greg walked back to Nick, who was working on one of the bodies."Everybody saw something, but no one saw what the next person saw."

"What?" Nick frowned as he looked up from the body.

"Well, one guy heard two shots and saw three men run away from the scene, another one heard close to ten shots but saw no one running away and..." He sighed. "One guy heard five shots and saw one guy run away. It all doesn't add up, these witnesses are useless. What a waste of time." Greg started collecting some evidence. He picked up a stuffed teddy bear full of blood spatter, lying near one of the victims. "Maybe one of them was a father."

* * *

"I was just about to head back to the lab," Greg said to Russell over the phone as he was driving in his denali.

"Can you drop by the hospital first? Brass just called, according to a witness an injured man walked away from the scene and drove himself to the ER."

"Sure, but if this witness is as reliable as the ones I was talking to, it won't do any good..." Greg replied annoyed. "Desert Palms?"

"Yeah. Call me if you find out anything useful."

"Sure..." Greg hung up the phone as he was making a left turn to drive to Desert Palms hospital.

While making that turn, the passenger side of his denali got hit by a delivery truck.

* * *

Shattered glass covered the streets, tire marks showed where the CSI's denali had swerved off the road. After regaining consciousness, he looked around confused. He needed a moment to realize what had happened.

His right hand had two broken fingers, but being in shock, he didn't realize it. Broken glass was stuck deep inside his skin near his left eye, missing it by about an inch. As he tried to get out of the car wreck he didn't even try the driver's door. Not thinking straight, he decided to crawl out of the broken window, only to cause some more scratch wounds, sticking some more glass deep into the skin of his hands, not feeling the pain over the shock. He just needed to get out.

Looking at the wreckage from outside of it, he realized how lucky he was to be alive. To be able to stand here, walk, think. This realization caused him to get a little dizzy. He sat down on the corner of the sidewalk.

The car had been pushed against a wall. No one was on the streets anymore at 3 a.m., he was alone. He was just sitting there, staring at his wrecked car. Until he remembered it might be a good idea to call for help. He patted himself down, only to remember his cell phone was inside the car. As he got up, the cell phone rang.

"...H-hello?" he asked as he picked the phone up from the passenger seat, unsure of who it might be, even though the caller I.D. was clearly visible on the screen. He answered without checking it.

"Greg, where are you? Brass is waiting for you at the hospital. You said you'd be there half an hour ago!"

"S-sorry, I..."

"The witness was right, a guy checked himself into the hospital with a gun wound. We need to collect evidence now."

"I'm sorry, I'm not gonna make it, I just got... My car's wrecked."

"What are you talking about?" Just now, Russell noticed Greg was sounding different than usual. His voice was shaky and quiet, almost as if he were whispering. "...Are you alright?"

"Yeah... I mean, no... I... I don't know. I'm alright but I think... I'm hurt. Russell, I think I need help."

* * *

Russell arrived at the scene of the accident before the paramedics did. As he hurried over to Greg he stopped for a second to take a good look at the hurt CSI sitting on the curbside, shocked over the view that presented to him. "...What happened?" He stared at Greg's blood-stained clothes.

"I-I don't think this was my fault. I had a green light. I didn't see the other car. Russell, I swear this isn't my fault." Right now, Greg's only concern was the damage that was done to the car. He still didn't entirely grasp the scenery.

"It's okay, I believe you." Russell smiled at him as he bent down to him to put his hand on his shoulder. "Where are you hurt?"

Greg shook his head. "It's alright," he claimed as he heard the sirens of the paramedics finally arriving.

"No it's not. You need to get yourself checked out at the hospital."

"I don't want to. I don't **need** to."

"...You have glass sticking out of your face and hands, you need to get checked out." He looked over to the wreckage. "It's a miracle you're alive."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the Reviews! Poor Greg has to go through a LOT in my stories ;) And he's not about to catch a break in this chapter. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Greg got himself stitched up at the hospital. It really was a miracle his wounds were all superficial. On his way out, he walked past Nick. The CSI had met up with Brass instead of him to collect evidence from the gunshot victim. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice his friend.

"Hey you," Nick said as he grabbed Greg's arm to stop him. "How are you doing?"

"Hey." Greg gently smiled. "I'm alright. Still a little shaken up, but I'm alive, right?"

Nick nodded as he looked Greg up and down. "The other car must've gone pretty fast. Was he drunk or something?"

"We don't know, he didn't stop."

"...Really?" Nick raised his eyebrows. "He didn't even check to see if you were alright?"

"I'm not sure. I don't remember anything right after the collision. When Russell called, half an hour had already passed."

Nick frowned. "They did check your head, right?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, don't worry." He smiled at Nick as he patted his shoulder. "So what about the guy with the gunshot wound?"

"Well, turns out he was just an unlucky bystander who got hit by a ricochet. He was in shock so he decided to drive by his own instead of calling an ambulance. He'll be fine."

Greg nodded. "Hey, are you heading back to the lab? Mind giving me a lift?"

* * *

"Really, we don't have to do this now..." Nick was trying to convince Greg that it was a bad idea to stop at the scene of the accident on their way to the lab. He had mentioned he wanted to take a look at it later today but had no intention of taking Greg with him. He parked the car around the corner of the scene.

"It's fine. I want to see it, too." Greg opened the door with shaky hands.

Nick noticed but decided not to comment on it. "Alright then." He sighed. Greg's car had already been removed from the scene, all that was left were the marks the CSIs had used to recreate the accident, as well as some blood drops. "Looks like he came from your right."

"But I definitely had a green light. I know I did." Greg stared at where he sat down after he had crawled out of his denali just hours earlier.

"Hey guys," CSI Burr from the dayshift said with a faint smile on his face as he walked up to them. "I just finished up, we're done here."

"Did you find anything useful yet?" Nick asked while his eyes wandered between Burr and his friend.

"Not really, but it'll be interesting to see if the denali will tell us something." Burr went into detail about his work at the scene.

"I-I think I'll wait in the car, if you want to stay a little longer and..." Greg said, unable to listen to Burr's detailed description of what he thought happened here.

"No," Nick interrupted him as he signed Burr goodbye, "Let's go."

* * *

As Nick and Greg arrived at the lab, the injured CSI was once again confronted with his colleagues' pitying looks. He dreaded having to face each and every one of them with his face and hand all up in band-aids and bandages. He knew they all just meant well, but it was a weird moment for everybody. That's what he appreciated about Hodges, he usually managed to act normal and not make it a weird situation at all. "Hey Greg, thanks again for the 20 bucks." Hodges walked up to him in the break room and handed the CSI 20$. Greg had borrowed him the money two days ago.

"Sure," Greg replied as he reached for his wallet in his pocket.

When Greg noticed his wallet wasn't there, he tried the other side. "...Has any of you guys seen my wallet?" When both men shook their heads, he left to look inside his locker. He came back a few moments later. "It's not here. Dammit, where could I have lost it?"

* * *

Since he wasn't supposed to work after his accident, anyway, Greg decided to go home to look for his wallet. He opened his door with an exhausted look on his face. "Hey Rosa, have you seen my wallet?" he asked as he walked into his apartment, hoping he had forgotten to take it with him today.

"I have!" she said from the kitchen.

Greg sighed in relief as he meant to enter the living room, but stopped in the doorway. "...Rosa?"

Rosa walked up to him with a smile on her face. "Isn't it a funny coincidence? Your brother found it in the elevator!"

"...Brother?" Greg asked confused, staring at the man sitting on the couch.

"Hey Greg," the man said with a grin on his face. "Funny coincidence, isn't it?"

"...Oh my, Greg. What happened to you?" Rosa noticed Greg's wounds.

"Car accident. ...Rosa, what's going on?" Greg asked confused.

"Greg, don't be rude," the man said while putting his hand on his jacket pocket.

"Well, I'll get going to leave you two alone now! I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do! Do you need anything before I go?"

Greg shook his head without putting his eyes off of the man.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Rosa asked a bit concerned.

"It's just that we haven't seen each other in a while... Right, Greg?" the man asked with his hand still on his pocket.

Greg nodded, trying to hide the disturbed look on his face.

"Alright. See you tomorrow. Have fun, guys! Bye Scott!" Rosa left with a smile on her face.

Greg was still standing in the doorway with a terrified look on his face. "...What do you want?"

"Is that how you greet your brother?" He laughed. "You should really tell your housekeeper to be more careful. She let me in without hesitation. That can be dangerous."

"...I-I have some money here, but..."

"I don't need money," he interrupted Greg as he threw the wallet to him. "I saw you at the hotel today. You took something from the victims that I need."

Greg frowned. "...What is it?"

"The teddy bear. I saw you pick it up and driving away with it."

Greg remembered putting a teddy bear in a bag. "...You want the teddy bear?"

"It's best for you to know as little as possible, alright? We'll have to figure out a way for you to get it for me."

Greg wasn't sure it was possible to get this piece of evidence out of the lab, but this stranger made him feel like he didn't have much of a choice. "I'm not sure where it is at the moment."

"...What are you talking about? You drove away with it."

Greg nodded. "But I was in a car accident on my way to the lab."

The stranger who called himself Scott put out his gun. "Well maybe you should ask someone who might know where it is."

Greg got his cell phone out as he stared at the gun. "Hey Russell. I was just wondering about the evidence in my car. I just remembered I was on my way to drop them off."

"_No, forget about it. You're not coming back to work until Monday."_

"...Yeah I know, I was just wondering..."

"_Alright. I'll check your list... There's some missing."_

"...Missing?"

"_Let me see... Oh yeah, some boot prints you collected at the scene and a... what does that say, stuffed teddy bear?"_

Greg sighed in desperation. "I see..."

Scott signed Greg to hang up the phone.

"Well, thanks Russell, I'll call you back later." Greg took a step backwards. "I'm sorry, I..."

Scott interrupted Greg. "...A car accident, you say?"

Greg nodded frightened.

"God dammit! That bastard!" Scott yelled.

Greg flinched as he took another step back.

"I'll kill him! I came here for nothing!" Scott smashed his hand against the wall.

The CSI flinched again. "Please, just..."

"Give me your phone." Scott demanded. Greg did. "Now get in the bedroom."

"...What? Why?" Greg's eyes watered. He felt a panic attack sneaking up. This strange, armed man being in his own home and now ordering him to go into the bedroom was more than enough to remind him of the trauma Neil Novak inflicted on him.

Scott finally forced him to get into the room by grabbing his arm and pushing him inside. "What did Rosa say? Tomorrow?" He laughed as he pushed Greg to the ground. "You'll be fine 'till then." He went on to tie a rope around Greg's wrists. He connected the rope to the bedframe to keep Greg from leaving the room. "Sorry for the inconvenience," Scott said with a grin before he left the apartment.

* * *

After almost three hours of trying to get his wrists out of the rope, Greg decided to stop trying. Due to his broken fingers and the scratches on his hands it hurt too much to keep going. He was getting tired, too, and was ready to accept his fate. As he was falling asleep, he heard some noise coming from the living room. "...H-Hello? Who is this?"

"Greg?" Nick asked from the living room. "Where are you? I tried calling you a dozen times, I was worried!"

"I'm in the bedroom! Come in already!"

Nick opened the door. "...Seems like I was right to worry. What the hell happened?!" He hurried over to free Greg.

"Thank god you're here! Rosa let this guy in who claimed to be my brother."

"...Your brother?"

Greg nodded. "He watched me at the scene, he wanted me to get him the teddy bear I collected."

"The teddy bear? Why would he want it so badly?"

"I don't know, he didn't say."

"Well, are you okay?" Nick looked him up and down. With the already present injuries it was hard to know whether or not he got hurt again. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Greg shook his head. "I'm fine, let's just go to the station... Wait, there was a glass on the table when Rosa left. Maybe he drank from it!" He hurried inside the living room. "It's still there, great!" He got a plastic bag from the kitchen and bagged it. He handed it to Nick. "I just realize I need to go to the bathroom. Had you come half an hour later... Well, you know." Greg smiled as he hurried into the bathroom. The idea of catching that guy was getting him excited and made him almost forget how traumatic the situation just was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ready for the next chapter?**

* * *

As Nick and Greg arrived at the station, the younger CSI hesitated to walk inside. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?"

"He just left. I saw his face, Nick. Why did he just leave like that?"

"Can't you just be glad he did and not obsess over this?" Nick was worried by that fact, too, but didn't want Greg to know. He just hoped that Scott didn't think this through.

* * *

After Greg tried to digitally make a sketch from Scott, a CSI team from the day shift was sent to Greg's home to search for any trace. At the same time, the glass Greg collected from his living room got checked for fingerprints and DNA. The day shift didn't find any useful evidence and Scott's DNA and fingerprints weren't in the databases. As monday night arrived, Greg sat down on the couch in the break room rather discouraged.

"Greg, what are you doing here?" Russell looked at his watch. "Your shift starts in an hour."

"I know, but Nick had to come in earlier for his case and since he's my ride, I decided to come here early, too. I'm sure I'll find something to keep myself busy."

Russell nodded. "Well, since you're already here... We made some progress in your case. We found the delivery truck that hit your denali."

"...You did? Where?"

"Just about a hundred miles away from the scene, actually. Looks like they drove South but the truck didn't make it too far."

Greg nodded. "Any evidence of the driver inside the car?"

Russell shook his head. "Not one single drop of blood. No fingerprints, either. They either wore gloves or wiped it clean."

"So who's the owner?"

"A company that reported the truck stolen a week ago."

Greg sighed disappointed. "So a dead end?"

"I'm afraid so. Whoever did this knows how to do it without leaving any trace behind."

"So all we have is Rosa's and my description of this Scott guy?"

"We're still looking for witnesses who have seen the accident. The area where it happened is frequented by hookers and drug addicts, Brass says it's next to impossible that no one was around when it happened."

Greg laughed humorlessly. "Great, so we're supposed to hope a drug addict or prostitute comes forward and actually saw anything useful?"

* * *

Two days later, after a long night at the lab, Greg was waiting in the break room for his shift to end.

"Yeah, no idea why. Just up and left. I sometimes wish I could do that," Hodges said as him and Henry walked in.

"Really? Where would you want to go?" Henry asked rather mocking.

"It's not about where, it's... I don't know, it's about not thinking everything through, being impulsive."

Henry shrugged. "I believe that if you're content with your life you don't feel the need to leave."

"Who are you talking about?" Greg asked interested.

"CSI Burr from day shift. He resigned yesterday and is on his way to New York right about... now, I believe." Hodges looked at his watch.

Greg raised his eyebrows. "What? ...He can't just leave, doesn't he have to notify the lab six weeks ahead of leaving?"

"Of course, but rumor has it he still had two months of his vacation left and told his supervisor they could let him leave now and void the vacation or they'd have to pay him another two months." Hodges poured himself and Henry some coffee.

Greg frowned. "I didn't know him well, but that sounds weird."

"He's probably leaving to be with his girlfriend. I heard she lives in New York," Henry chimed in.

"I thought he was single," Hodges replied intrigued. He loved gossip like that.

Nick walked in exhausted, interrupting their conversation. "What a day, huh?" He walked over to the coffee machine as Henry and Hodges left the room. "I'm so tired, I'm actually considering taking a nap at the couch before heading home. How about you?"

"I'm not tired," he replied while tapping his fingers on the desk nervously.

"Well you didn't have to walk through the desert for five hours. I knew I shouldn't have let a coin decide which one of us would take the case." He laughed.

Greg smiled at him. "Maybe you'll have better luck next time."

Nick nodded as he sipped from his coffee. "Hey, did you hear about Burr?"

"Yeah, Hodges and Henry just told me about it."

"Weird, huh? I talked to him the day before he quit, didn't even mention it." Nick looked at Greg, catching the signs of nervousness his friend portrayed. "Are you okay?"

Greg sighed. "I'll fire Rosa today."

"Fire her? Why? You were so glad you found her."

"I am. Well, I was until she let a complete stranger into my house. An armed one, none the less."

"Yeah but she didn't mean any harm. Come on Greg, you can't fire her over this. She does a great job, your home's never been that clean."

"I think my safety should be more important than how clean the place is, don't you think?" Greg got a bit defensive. He wasn't sure about this decision at all, but figured it was the only way to feel safe in his own home."

Nick sat down opposite him. "I understand this is hard for you. This was a scary situation and Rosa let it happen. But I think you should talk to her first, see if she understands she made a mistake, you know?"

* * *

"Good morning Greg," Rosa said with a smile on her face as she walked in.

"Hey Rosa," he said quite nervously. "Before you start with your work... Sit down, please." They both sat down at the kitchen table.

"Is something wrong? Aren't you happy with my work?"

"I am. You're doing a great job. But I need to talk to you about... you know, Scott."

"...Did you arrest him?"

"...No, not yet. That's not it, I just need to... You can't let any strangers in."

Rosa looked a bit baffled. "He said he was your brother, he seemed so nice and... He had your wallet, I didn't think he was a bad person."

Greg tried not to look too annoyed. "This is Vegas. You can't let anyone you don't know in."

"You're right. I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Thank you." He forced a smile. "You're doing a great job, Nick even commented on how clean the place looked. But... please be more careful, okay?"

* * *

"So you talked to Rosa?" Nick asked Greg in the locker room, tying his shoes as he was ready to head to a crime scene.

"Yeah. I can't believe how naïve she is. I mean she lives here long enough to know that no one in this city can be trusted."

Nick raised an eyebrow. This was quite negative talk, he thought. "Now that's an exaggeration but she should be careful."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that look. I know that as a CSI you can become a bit too careful and distrusting, but it's nothing like that. I have enough reason to be."

Nick nodded. "Maybe. Anyway, I'm glad you worked it out with her. I'm sure this was bad enough for her to learn from it."

"We'll see." Greg's phone rang. "Hey Rosa, what's... Wait, not so fast. What do you mean? ...Really? Alright, tell him to send me the link. Yeah, thank you. Bye." Greg ended the call with a weird look on his face.

"What's wrong now?"

"I'm not sure. But I need to check my emails."

* * *

They both walked to a computer in the lab. "There it is." Greg had received a link to a video Rosa's son had found online. Rosa had told him what it was about, but he wasn't prepared for it.

"Wow...," was all Nick said as they watched it. The video showed the delivery truck crashing into Greg's denali at full speed. It also showed Greg unconscious right after the crash, the camera being held right into the car and someone laughing over the sight of the injured CSI. _"Is he dead? I think he's dead!"_ the laughing male voice said on the video.

Greg watched the video in shock, flinching as the cars collided. "...Who filmed this?"

"We'll know soon."

"No!" Greg jumped off his seat quite agitated. "I mean, who does that? Who films something like that... laughing?! They were there, they saw it and... didn't do **anything**. They didn't help, they just filmed as they laughed at me!"

Nick didn't realize how much this upset Greg at first. Now, it was impossible not to notice. "I'm sorry, they..."

Greg interrupted him. He didn't even hear him say anything in the rage he was in. "And they put it on the internet?! For billions of people to watch? What is **wrong** with these people?!"

"Okay, you need to calm down." Nick put his hands on Greg's shoulders to get him to focus on him. "We'll find out who they are and pull this video."

"It'll be too late by then, Nick! It's available for everybody with internet access **now**, which basically **is** everybody!" He shook Nick's hands off. "This is horrible!"

"It's not. This is good. This is evidence. I know it doesn't feel good to watch this, knowing anybody could watch it, but who watches stuff like that? Hardly anybody's interested in these videos."

Greg sat back down again as he shook his head in desperation. "I don't want **anybody** to see this."

Nick grabbed Greg's arm. "Come on." He pulled him up. "You need to wind down. Go into the break room, get a cup of tea or something and just relax. I'll take care of this."

"No, I don't want to... and I can't. I need to head out to a crime scene and you do, too."

"Your burglary case won't go anywhere and Sara's already at my scene, she'll be fine by herself for another half hour. Go, I'll find Russell."

* * *

Nick showed Russell the video while Greg tried to relax a bit. "He saw that?" Russell asked concerned.

Nick nodded. "His housekeeper's son sent him the link."

Russell raised an eyebrow. "Any chance the son's involved in this?"

"No, I don't think so. He says a friend found the link online and sent it to him. He showed it to Rosa, knowing she was working for a CSI now and she recognized Greg."

"So a lucky coincidence, I guess... This is good news, but Greg shouldn't have seen this. It's hard to watch even if it's not yourself in it."

"I know, he didn't digest it well, either."

Russell rubbed his temples. "Alright. How about you get Archie in here and find out who uploaded it. I'll... talk to Greg about this and take on his case, he'll take yours. I want Sara to have an eye on him, he'll probably have a hard time staying concentrated. You call me when you find anything."


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope you guys still enjoy the story! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

Greg tried his best to stay focused at work and he somewhat succeeded. After three hours at a murder scene together with Sara, he finally got back to the lab. With a box full of evidence in his hands that needed processing, he hurried into the A/V lab where Archie and Nick were sitting at a computer. "Any news yet?"

"Not yet," Archie answered. "But we're getting there."

"What do you have there?" Nick asked, trying to distract Greg a bit.

"Just evidence and stuff. Have you tried to..." Greg walked towards the two, but Nick got off his seat to stop him.

"Just let us do our work, alright? There's nothing you can do right now. Concentrate on your own case, we'll get you when we find anything new."

* * *

Greg didn't take Nick's advice very well, he was pretty annoyed by his friend. But there was something worse worrying him. "No, no, no! Don't! Please, it's not... Alright. Yeah, sure. Thanks..." he said as he hung up the phone, right when Nick walked into the break room. He grunted angrily and annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Nick frowned as he walked towards the coffee machine.

"It's... my parents. They saw the video."

"...What?" Nick asked surprised as she stopped walking. "How?"

"It's on the news, Nick. **Everyone** will see it!"

"Wait, what? They showed this on the news?"

Greg shrugged. "Apparently they didn't show my face, but my mom recognized me anyway."

"...How bad did they react?"

Greg laughed humorless. "Well the fact that my dad called says a lot. I could hear my mom sobbing in the background." He shook his head. "I knew this would happen."

"...I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Yeah well, I'm not. My mom's already packing her bags to come here. They don't care that I don't want them here."

Nick frowned. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Greg shrugged. "I can't take her right now, I can't have her here. It's too much. I just hope I can convince them to stay at a hotel." He propped his head on his arms crossed on the table. "Please tell me you have any good news?"

Nick gave him a smile. "In fact, I have." He didn't plan to tell Greg this before they looked deeper into it, but he knew his friend needed something positive now. "We got the guy's address. The one who uploaded the video. Brass' guys are bringing him in right about now."

* * *

"I don't know what I was thinking, I just thought it was kinda funny..." the man who made the video, Peter Carlyle, said as he was being interrogated by Brass and Nick.

Nick gave him a look. "I'm sure your cell mate's gonna find that story pretty funny, too."

"...Cell mate? No, come on, man. I wasn't doing anything wrong! I checked for a pulse, the guy was fine."

"That doesn't change the fact that you didn't do anything to help him! You're not a doctor, you didn't know whether he needed medical assistance or not!"

"...So, is he dead or not?" Peter asked confused.

"He's alive."

"...So what the hell are we talking about then?!"

Nick got off his seat, kicking his chair in desperation. "Do you believe that guy?!" he asked Brass enraged.

"Alright, let's focus. Your little video gave us a good idea of the accident, what about the guy who caused it?" Brass asked, trying to get some information out of that guy.

Peter sighed annoyed. "I don't know, I was pretty scared, you know."

"Scared? Didn't sound scared on the videos. Seemed like you had a pretty good time," Nick chimed in annoyed.

"Yeah but only after the driver left! He had a gun, okay?"

"A gun? There's no gun on the video."

"Cheap camera, crappy solution. The gun's there, I'm telling you. First I thought the guy got out of the car to make sure the other driver was okay, but now I think he wanted to make sure he wasn't."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"It looked like he went over there to shoot him. When he saw he was unconscious, he left."

"How about his face? Can you describe him?"

"Nah-ah. No, didn't see anything."

* * *

Greg was too proud to admit it, but he was getting overwhelmed with everything that was happening around him at the moment. As if the accident and getting locked inside his own home wasn't enough, learning that his parents were going to visit him because of the video of the accident going viral was pushing him closer to the edge. A week after the accident, working was almost impossible as he couldn't quite concentrate. Russell had noticed, so he decided to keep him near him and keep an eye on him.

"How's it going?" Russell asked with a smile on his face as he walked into the evidence room.

Greg had been stuck in there for almost three hours. Him and Russell were at a crime scene together and he was in the lab ever since they came back. "Almost done."

Russell looked at his watch. "Already? It was quite a lot of evidence."

"I'll only have another hour to work on it, I hope. But I'm gonna take a break before tackling the last bit."

Russell nodded. "Henry just made a fresh pot of coffee in the break room."

Greg shook his head. "I'll actually head out for a while and get a coffee to go. I could use some fresh air."

* * *

As Greg stepped out of the lab, he felt like someone was watching him. It was an eery feeling he tried not to give any attention to, he felt like that most of the time at the moment. It was a feeling that had disappeared for quite some long time now and he wondered why it came back, but figured it was due to the accident.

As he walked two corners away from the lab, towards the diner he wanted to get coffee from, Scott – the guy who locked Greg inside his own bedroom - hid in a dark alley, grabbed the CSI and pulled him towards him. Without even realizing who was attacking him, Greg fought back, elbowing Scott and trying to run away. But Scott caught up to him and pushed him to the ground, kicking him. Picking the CSI up from the ground again, he shoved him from behind against a wall. Scott used his body weight to push Greg against it. "Where are they, you lying bastard?!"

"...Wh-What?!" Greg yelled desperately, shocked over Scott's sudden appearance.

He kept on trying to fight back, but Scott grabbed the CSIs injured hand, twisted it behind his back and used it to push him harder. "**Where are they?!**" Greg wanted to cry out in pain, but Scott muffled the sound with his hand. "**Where?!**"

"...Who do you mean?" the CSI asked defeated and frightened as Scott put his hand off of Greg's mouth.

"The diamonds! Where are they?!"

"...Wh-What?"

Scott twisted Greg around, grabbing his face and slamming his head against the wall. "I fell for that once and I'm not about to make that mistake again! You took them out of the bear and they're mine!"

"Please, I don't know what you're talking about!" Greg begged for his life, but it only caused Scott to get more aggressive.

He grabbed Greg's injured hand and smashed it against the wall. "Let me give you a piece of advice. This is not a situation in which lying can get you out of trouble. Ask the guy who caused your car accident. I've got his head in my bag. You wanna ask him?"

Greg's terror-filled eyes stared into Scott's. "...You killed him?"

"Didn't give me much of a choice, he stole the diamonds, but claims you have half of it."

"B-but I don't..."

Scott looked deep into Greg's eyes. Even the man who crashed into Greg's denali broke quicker with less pain inflicted on him. He was willing to believe Greg. "Then who does?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hope you guys like the story so far!**

* * *

The headache Greg had woken up to was almost as severe as the pain in his hand. His broken fingers had only slowly started to heal before Scott fractured them again. He tried to get up, but the pain in his hand and head didn't allow it just yet. He lay there in the alley, trying to stay awake. It didn't quite work.

* * *

When Greg was on his way to the diner, Nick had already finished his coffee but got into a conversation with the officers next to his seat. He finally left the diner and headed back to the lab. On his way there, he heard noises coming from the dark alley Greg had been attacked at. At first he wanted to just ignore it, but his CSI instincts kicked in and he decided to investigate it further. Grabbing his flash light and his gun, he walked towards where the noise was coming from. "...Hello?" He realized it was a person lying there. "Hey, you need help?" He noticed some blood drops around the person, as well as a blood stain on the person's clothes. Then he noticed the CSI I.D. tag. "...Oh damn." As he walked further towards the person he realized it was his friend. "...Greg?" He looked around the alley, it was clear. No one else was there so he put his gun away. "Hey, Greg!"

Greg opened his eyes. "...N-Nick?"

"Hey, I'm here. It's fine, you're okay." He slowly helped him sit up. "Is this your blood?"

Greg nodded, placing his uninjured hand on the back of his head. "Damn it, I need to go to the hospital again... I can't... I can't move my hand."

Nick looked down on it. Had only two of Greg's fingers been broken before, it was now the whole hand. It was slowly turning blue. "I think it might be broken. ...What happened? Who did this to you?" He grabbed a tissue and put it on the wound on the back of Greg's head.

"Scott. Scott did this..."

Nick frowned. It took him a while to remember who Scott was. "...What did he want?"

"Some... diamonds, he thought I had them."

It all didn't make any sense to Nick and he wondered if Greg's head was okay. He called an ambulance. "You should lie down again."

* * *

Since coming back from the hospital half an hour ago, Greg had been sitting inside the break room, staring at the wall when Nick walked in and broke his concentration. "Hey. How are you holding up?"

Greg gave Nick a faint smile as he nodded. "I'll be fine."

"Do you need anything?"

Greg shook his head with a sad look on his face. "I'll be fine," he repeated, sounding a little less-convincing than he just did.

Nick watched his friend stare into the distance for a moment. He tried to find a way to help him, but didn't quite know how. He decided on trying to make small talk, not focus on what was going on. "Hey, have you..."

"Did you know Burr well?" Greg interrupted him.

"...Huh? Burr from day shift? Not all too much, we talked a little at the last christmas party. Why?"

"I've been thinking. Who leaves just like that? Who starts over like this, and why?"

Nick shrugged, looking a bit worried for his friend. "Maybe he had problems in his life he needed to escape from. Maybe he couldn't handle them, but you can. You know you can."

Greg gave Nick a look. "No, I mean... maybe he ran into some money, enough for him to be able to start a new life somewhere."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"He was the only CSI processing the denali. I think he took the diamonds Scott's looking for."

Nick sat down opposite him. "You're saying he stole the diamonds, quit his job and moved to New York?"

Greg looked thoughtful for a moment before hurrying out of the room. Nick followed.

* * *

"Where are we going? Greg, talk to me!"

Greg hurried inside the evidence room and sat down in front of the computer. "I don't think he ever went to New York." Greg checked if Burr had bought a plane ticket to New York. "See? There's no ticket to New York. Maybe he didn't even leave Vegas yet! We have to find him and..." As Greg got off his seat, meaning to hurry down the station to tell Brass about this, Nick stopped him by putting his hand on Greg's chest.

"Stop. You can't do that."

"Nick, I** know** he did it, I need to..."

"No, you're not listening. **You** don't need to do anything. I will. You can't be involved, you know that."

* * *

Greg sat in a patrol car, anxiously waiting for Brass and Nick to storm into Burr's home in Henderson. Burr had been struggeling financially for a while now, with his gambling addiction getting worse. He had to move into his parent's place again at 33 years old, feeling ashamed and like a failure. Greg's instincts were right, Burr found the diamonds and used that opportunity to get away from all his troubles. Suspecting that the diamonds had been hidden in the teddy bear Greg had found at the scene, he figured that no one would miss them since no one knew they had been there. No one except for one person – Scott.

When Brass and Nick stormed into Burr's home, Scott was already there, forcing Burr to hand out the diamonds at gunpoint. He used a similar trick to get into the house like he did with Greg's apartment, claiming to be someone Burr knew.

Things got pretty heated in the Burr home, but Nick and Brass were eventually able to subdue Scott, save Burr and his parents and retrieve the stolen diamonds.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Last chapter's here! I hope you enjoyed it even though there wasn't too many Reviews ;) A new story is already in the works, so be patient, I'll upload it in a few weeks, I think! Now enjoy the last chapter!**

**Big Love,**

**pikapikatchu**

* * *

"I'm surprised to see **you** here," Scott – whose real name was Laurence – said to Greg with a weirdly calm smile, given the circumstances. They were sitting in the interrogation room. He had already been thouroughly interrogated by Brass, but didn't answer most of his questions.

Greg nodded, awkwardly smiling back. "To be perfectly honest, it wasn't an easy decision, but I just need to ask you..."

"What?" he grinned. "Why you're still here?"

Greg nodded. "You had the chance to kill me... twice."

Scott chuckled as he leaned back. "Honesty." Seeing Greg's confused and disbelieving look, he added, "What, you think I'm a monster? I appreciate honest people. When I asked you where the diamonds were - even tortured you to tell me, you said you didn't know. I believed you."

Greg frowned. It wasn't the kind of answer he expected, it really confused him. "Honesty. That... That's it?"

"What, not content with that answer? I never was about killing people. That's not what I was after. I was just doing my job. I was hired to retrieve the diamonds from the people you found with the teddy bear."

"By whom?"

"Do I have to repeat myself? It's best for you to know as little as possible."

"Fair enough. But you should've told Brass when he offered you a deal."

Scott shrugged. "I'm good."

Greg sighed. "So you say you didn't mean to kill anyone, yet you shot those men?"

He shook his head. "Uh-uh. Wasn't me. That was the guy who crashed into your car."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I saw him do it. He's the reason I carried a gun in the first place." Scott sighed. "Look, I'm sorry you got dragged into this. If it's any consolation, I didn't mean to hurt you."

Greg couldn't help but chuckle disbelieving as he looked down on his fractured hand. He showed it to Scott. "This doesn't look like you didn't mean to hurt me. Getting my head smashed against a brick wall didn't feel like you didn't mean to hurt me. Nor did being left by myself in that dark alley, unable to get up. Do you actually believe what you're saying?"

Scott smiled. "That's the kind of honesty I meant. You know how rare it is for people to be able to express their feelings, their hurt and confusion... their despair and helplessness? It's a characteristic you should treasure and hold on to for as long as possible."

This talk only confused Greg more, causing him to change the subject. "How did you know Burr had the diamonds?"

Scott leaned back with a smirk on his face. "You led me right to him. I checked your phone while you were unconscious in that alley. I wanted to find out who worked the case of your accident and luckily no one asks for identification when you call the lab with a CSI's phone." He laughed as he watched Greg's face show a lot of loss of faith. He actually felt a bit bad for him. "...How do you feel about that?"

"Betrayed. Used. Abused. Horrible. Pick one. Do you have any idea what you did to Burr's parents?"

"They'll live, won't they?"

"They'll be terrified to be in their own home for a long time. They might never recover from this."

Scott remembered something. "...Right, you know a thing or two about trauma yourself, don't you? I saw it in your eyes the first time we met. When I asked you to go into the bedroom." Just saying this caused Greg to get almost the same reaction he had at that moment. "Exactly. This. What is this?"

"I-I think we're... We're done." Greg got off his seat with shaky hands. It scared him that Scott seemed to be able to look right through him.

"What's his name? Was he family?"

Greg looked at Scott quite shocked. "...No."

"A stranger?" he didn't answer, but Scott could read the answer by the look on Greg's face. "Wow, that's... How long has it been?"

"...Not long enough." Greg had no idea why he answered these personal questions, why he made himself vulnerable to this murderer.

"It never will be," Scott replied with an almost sentimental smile on his face. "You just think about it less, but whenever you do think about it, it doesn't hurt much less than it used to, right?"

Greg very slightly nodded as he stared at Scott. "...You know?"

"A friend of my older brother when I was 15. He drugged me, I came to right in the middle of it. Over 20 years later and I still get shivers thinking about it." He shrugged. "Take care of yourself, okay? Don't let your demons do to you what mine did to me."

* * *

Greg had left the interrogation room with a weird feeling. He feared this man for the last few days and now he felt closer to him emotionally than he did to his friends for a long time now. He looked a little pale over that realization when Nick walked into the break room.

"Hey Greg. Where were you? I've been looking for you. ...Are you alright? You don't look too good."

Greg shrugged as he was close to tears. "It's just been a long day. ...A few very long days."

Nick nodded thoughfully as he sat down next to his friend. "Do you want to talk?"

He shook his head. "I'm just emotionally drained right now. I don't know what to do with myself. Don't know what to feel or to think. I'm empty."

"...No, stop it. You've been through a lot, it's no wonder you feel that way. But it'll get better, you know that. It always does."

"I'm not sure about that. For Scott it never did. 20 years later and he's not over it."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about? ...You talked to him?"

Greg nodded. "He knew, Nick. He knew everything just by looking at me. I'll never be able to shake Novak, he'll always be a part of me. And everytime something like that accident happens that part will grow."

"...What are you saying?"

Greg shrugged. "I don't know, I'm tired. You shouldn't even listen to me."

Nick sighed. "You know what? Call your parents. Tell them to cancel their flights, you'll go visit them."

"...What? Why?"

"Because you need to get away from all this for a while. Even if just for a week."

Greg shook his head. "I can't. I'm not supposed to fly right now and..."

"Then we'll drive there. With me accompanying you, they can't make you stay at their place."

Greg thought about it for a while. "I don't know..."

"It's better than having them here, isn't it?"

"...B-but it's a long drive and..."

Nick knew Greg wasn't too comfortable with driving at the moment, being behind a wheel made him a bit nervous right now. "It'll be good for you. I'm a good driver, you know that. You're safe with me."

Greg nodded, but he wasn't too comfortable with this idea yet. "...I..."

Nick handed him his cell phone. "Call them. Tell them we'll be there in a few days."

Greg hesitated for a moment, looking for excuses and reasons not to do it but he came up empty. He gave Nick a look before dialing. "...Hey mum, I was thinking maybe I should come visit you instead. Yeah, in a few days? Great. No, don't. Nick's coming with me, we'll stay at a hotel." After talking to her for over five minutes, he hung up the phone. "Alright. Let's do this."

* * *

Greg gave Rosa the week he'd spend in California off, packed his back and waited anxiously for Nick to pick him up two days later. He still was quite unsure about this trip but knew he needed to get some distance from his life for a change. With Nick by his side, he knew he would be fine facing his mother with his face and hands covered in injuries – he was just glad she wouldn't see the bruises underneath his clothes. As he heard knocking, he hurried to the door quite excited, looking through the fish eye and being quite glad it was Nick. "Hey."

Nick smiled at him. "You ready?"

Greg nodded, grabbing one of his two bags.

Nick got the other one. "I hope you're hungry, we'll eat in about two hours. There's a great diner on our way, their pancakes are divine, so I've heard!"

Greg laughed. "Sure. But Nick, I just wanted to thank you for doing this."

"Hey, anytime. I'm sure it'll be a great trip. At least for me, I hope you'll like this!" Nick handed him a CD he mixed himself."

Greg raised an eyebrow. "There better be some metal on this!"

Nick turned around with a devilish laugh. "It's a road trip, what better music is there to listen to than Country?"

Greg shook his head laughing as he followed his friend to the car. "This will be a long drive..."

* * *

**Ende.**


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